Allen Toussaint Life Love Faith Square Album Art
It's with a heavy heart that we report on the passing of New Orleans music legend Allen Toussaint, who passed away Monday night after performing in Madrid, according to his family. The news broke on Louisiana CBS affiliate WWL.
Toussaint's work helped define much of the New Orleans R&B/Soul sound throughout the 20th century, and his production credits can be found on the records of The Meters, Joe Cocker, Aaron Neville, Lee Dorsey and Professor Longhair. Local second-line stylings came through him like a conduit, and his later collaborations with Paul McCartney, Solomon Burke, Paul Simon and more benefitted from his deep knowledge and love of the city's music.
More recently, Toussaint had recorded with Elvis Costello and Eric Clapton and toured the world, performing his own legendary blues and soul compositions. During a 2013 ceremony, President Barack Obama praised his iconic body of work, saying "Allen has devoted his musical talent to lifting up and building up a city."
"Today, he's taking the stage all over the world, with all kinds of incredible talent, doing everything he can to revive the legendary soul of the Big Easy," the president continued. WWL has an excellent backstory on Toussaint's live, from his first encounter with the piano at age 6--just a boy in New Orleans' Gert Town neighborhood--to his teenage days in R&B bands, dropping out of high school to pursue his art, and his rise to mastery as a producer and songwriter during the early 1960s.
>>>Read their full memorial post here.
On this sad occasion, we find that Toussaint's own "On The Way Down" is the right kind of musical healing. Listen to it below. RIP, Allen. You were truly one of the living saints.
